


The Cusp

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (and an idiot), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bigotry & Prejudice, F/M, Fantastic Racism, Lucius Malfoy Being an Asshole, Malfoy Family, Mother-Son Relationship, POV Narcissa Black Malfoy, Purebloods, Slytherins Being Slytherins, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 08:53:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10738341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Narcissa isn't pleased when her son befriends the Boy-Who-Lived.





	The Cusp

Narcissa loved her husband dearly, but sometimes Lucius was an idiot. “Why would you want Draco to befriend the Potter boy?” she asked, _calmly_ , after their son had left the room and gone to bed, his head already filled with dreams of tomorrow’s train ride.

“You’ve heard the rumours too.”

She scoffed. “I’ve heard the half-mad speculation of people like Hieronymus Nott and Betsy Lestrange, but I thought you were cleverer than that.”

“Come now, we mustn’t let our prejudice blind us. Potter is a half-blood, but if it’s true that the Dark Lord sought him out in fear of his powers, if it’s true that Potter _did_ defeat him with a dark spell, then we must put our foot in the door. Draco is in an ideal position to do so.”

Lucius smirked as though he were congratulating himself for the timing of Draco’s birth.

“He was a toddler. He knew no magic, let alone dark magic.”

“Who knows how dark lords come to be?” Lucius asked whimsically.

Narcissa gave up. Draco wouldn't react well to her contradictory orders — he idealised his father too much and loved his mother too dearly —, so she sent him off on the train with a clear head as well as kiss (received begrudgingly) and some words of advice.

“Be careful, and be cautious, my darling.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll be in _Slytherin_ , Mum,” he told her. He knew better than to think that no Slytherin had ever been careless or rash, but she didn’t have the time or opportunity to correct him. The warning bell came, and he boarded the train with Vincent Crabbe and Greg Goyle.

Narcissa was right to be worried. Draco’s letter the next day was everything she had expected — he was in Slytherin with Vincent, Greg, Blaise, and Theodore, they weren’t doing magic immediately and couldn’t his father do something, and he had already run out of sweets.

Then, “I compared schedules with Harry, and Slytherin and Gryffindor only have Potions on Fridays together, but everyone in our year is in the same History of Magic and Astronomy classes. (There’s only forty of us.) We have Herbology with the Ravenclaws, though. Harry’s friend Weasley says that they don’t want too many students in the wand-waving classes, in case we blow up the whole room.”

Lucius was quietly smug after Narcissa finished reading out the letter. He was wise enough to only say, “It’s a small year.”

Narcissa hadn't shut down her higher reasoning like her husband had — the wilful fool. Potter was in _Gryffindor_ , and no dark lords and few dark wizards had ever come from that house. He had even befriended a Weasley and allowed Draco to speak with the boy.

No good could come from this. The Weasleys were trouble.

 _It might amount to nothing,_ Narcissa tried to reassure herself. _Draco will come to his senses in time, and he will cast aside these regrettable “friends.”_

She was destined to be disappointed. Draco’s letters continued to speak of Harry Potter, and soon “Weasley” became “Ron.” Even worse, another character soon appeared in Draco’s tall tales — a mudblood named Hermione Granger, and Narcissa feared that her son’s distaste for the girl would end once she wore him down as Ron Weasley had before her.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lucius said, but now he too frowned. “We raised Draco to know better than to befriend _mudbloods_. He will realise that before any trouble happens, and then we will have the Potter boy under our influence.”

Lucius didn't accompany her to King’s Cross Station, and he didn't see Draco disembark on one side of Harry Potter — and on the other side were a redheaded boy and a plain girl with a great deal of hair, surely the mudblood herself. There was no sign of Greg or Vincent.

“Mum! Mum!” her son called, and she fixed a smile on her face and waved.

“Draco!”

The four children hurried over to her, and Narcissa hoped that Meliora Flint wasn't looking this way. “Mum, this is Harry and Ron and — er — Hermione. I wrote you about them?”

“Yes, of course. How lovely to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs Malfoy,” Harry Potter said dutifully, and Ron Weasley echoed him. Hermione Granger held out her hand, and Narcissa forced herself to shake it.

“Say your goodbyes, Draco. Your father is waiting on us for supper.”

“Right. Bye, everybody.”

Potter grinned and pushed up his glasses. His muggle clothing was oversized and worn, and she marvelled at the perversity of boys. The Potters had left him a fortune, but he wore rags and he wore them to the threads. “Bye, Draco. We’ll write?”

“Yeah!”

“Hope Errol doesn’t keel over from delivering all these letters,” Weasley said, and Granger elbowed him.

“You have essays to write too, Ron,” she said primly, “Errol can’t spend the whole summer flying across the country.”

“Harry and I have our own owls, anyway,” Draco said. Then, awkwardly, he added, “I’ll send Mercury to you first, Hermione. That way, you can use him too.”

The girl beamed shyly. “Thank you, Draco.”

Meliora peered at them over her son’s shoulder.

Narcissa cleared her throat. “Your father, Draco?”

Draco frowned but consented, and he said his final farewells to the three grubby Gryffindors with obvious reluctance.

It could not be borne.

Narcissa made her opinion on this very clear after they had gotten home and eaten and she had sent their son to bed. “What will people think, seeing Draco speaking with a half-blood, a blood traitor, and a _muggle-born_? I am certain that the Flints saw Draco behaving so disgracefully, and if Meliora Flint knows, _everyone_ will know before the day's out!”

Meliora was a cousin of hers, through the Rosiers. Somehow that made it worse.

“I’ll fix this,” Lucius said comfortingly, and Narcissa didn’t have the heart to tell him that she would rather he not. He was the one who got Draco into this mess, after all.


End file.
